Happy Bonfire Night!
Remember, remember the fifth of November,
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder and treason
Should ever be forgot..............
(This is a child's nursery rhyme from the 17th Century)
On the 5th November 1605 Guy Fawkes and a group of co-conspirators attempted to blow up King James VI and I (6th of Scotland, 1st of England), along with the Houses of Parliament, in what has become known as the "Gunpowder Plot".
They stock piled lots of barrels of gunpowder in the cellars beneath the Houses of Parliament, but before they were able to carry out their plan they were captured and subsequently tortured and executed. The following year, 1606, King James and Parliamnent commissioned a sermon to commemorate the event, which has been an annual event ever since! It serves as a reminder to each generation that treason will NOT be forgotten!!!!
We continue to celebrate Guy Fawkes night in the UK with bonfires, where we traditionally burn a Guy, an effigy of a man, and let of fireworks as a symbol of the gunpowder! Tonight we went a long to the mouth of the River Esk in Musselburgh to watch the East Lothian Council fireworks display. The kids (big and small!!!) enjoyed it.
They stock piled lots of barrels of gunpowder in the cellars beneath the Houses of Parliament, but before they were able to carry out their plan they were captured and subsequently tortured and executed. The following year, 1606, King James and Parliamnent commissioned a sermon to commemorate the event, which has been an annual event ever since! It serves as a reminder to each generation that treason will NOT be forgotten!!!!
We continue to celebrate Guy Fawkes night in the UK with bonfires, where we traditionally burn a Guy, an effigy of a man, and let of fireworks as a symbol of the gunpowder! Tonight we went a long to the mouth of the River Esk in Musselburgh to watch the East Lothian Council fireworks display. The kids (big and small!!!) enjoyed it.
We normally have "sparklers" but this year we decided on a safer option and bought the kids "glowstix" instead.
They made a "happy face" on the grass with them so I just had to take a picture!
posted by gourdongirl at 9:39 pm
5 Comments:
Sounds like you had fun!
p.s.-I'm glad you stuck around to chat a bit too! :)
see ya!
Mal
I love Bon Fire Night. It cheers up Autumn when it's starting to get gloomy.
There was an MP on Radio 4 yesterday morning saying we should stop celebrating Bon Fire Night because it was wrong to celebrate burning a catholic 400 years after the event. He made absolutely no reference to the fact that he led a plot to blow up parliament and the king. A terrorist of his day.
HOW COOL!! and I love Bon Fires!
I really need to sit down with you and TALK! I have a lot of "Scottish History Mysteries"...those things I can't figure out like...King James!
Do you get fireworks going off for weeks before and after the 5th. There were huge ones going off at the pub at the top of our road tonight (7th). Good thing Lily-the-Dog ignores them. Now if somebody walks past the house it's different- that's hysterical barking and running about time.
I love bonfire night too, there is no better feeling that standing in front of that huge bonfire allowing my toes to thaw out! And as for glowsticks, yeah it beats using sparklers, much safer!
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